Millennium Falcon Drone Review

If Star Wars is your thing then this drone could just be for you

Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Review

Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Review

Summary

The Millennium Falcon drone is a great drone if you are looking for something safe for the kids or you just want to have fun with a Star Wars legendary spaceship. You can get better for your money elsewhere but if you crave that Star Wars experience then this is the drone for you.

Overall

You might be forgiven for thinking that the Air Hogs Millennium Falcon drone is aimed at kids – but for anyone who lived through the late 1970’s and 1980’s then there will be more than just a small amount of desire for wanting this drone as an adult. At around £100 it is certainly not the cheapest UAV on the market so we took it out for a fly and tried to leave our nostalgia very firmly on the ground whilst seeing if the Air Hogs Millennium Falcon was capable of hyperdrive (or even just capable of cutting it amongst the other market leading budget drones). Our full Air Hogs Millennium Falcon review looks to see if it is more of a Yoda or a Luke Skywalker.

First Impressions

The Millennium Falcon is one of the most iconic ships from the Star Wars series and the first impressions as you unbox it are of tingling excitement that you might finally get to recreate the famous Kessel Run. The drone itself is pretty lightweight and quite sizeable measuring just over 24cm in length. It comes boxed with the ready branded Star Wars controller that feels pretty well made and has a certain retro gleam to it.

The drone itself looks the part and the attention to detail of recreating the Millennium Falcon is pretty accurate – to our uneducated eye anyway. There a number of LED lights including the Hyperdrive blue light which does look very cool when lit.

The hull of the drone is made from foam which does not feel great when holding it but it does give it a certain degree of protection when flying it in case of crashing – which you will definitely need unless you have the flying skills of Han Solo.

Air Hogs Millennium Falcon Specs

This drone is not one that is particularly well spec’d when you compare it to other drones in this price range. You will not find a camera, there are no special pre-programmed stunts or manoeuvres and the flight time is pretty dismal at just 5 minutes. But coming back to the fun factor and the Star Wars Millennium Falcon drone has some great sound effects and lights that give it that unique sci-fi feel.

You can fly the drone at up to 200 feet according to the manufacturer but we found that we didn’t really venture past around 50 feet as it was hard enough to control at close range, let alone at distance.

Flying the Millennium Falcon Drone

The Air Hogs Millennium Falcon is not the easiest drone to pilot but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. In fact this drone is all about fun. It is pretty nippy for its size although you won’t be outflying any X-Wings. The fun comes in the novelty factor of this drone and the lights and sounds that it makes that recreates that nostalgic 1980’s sci-fi feel. Whilst the tech is more advanced than that of the era when Star Wars was first made it won’t keep up with the drones of 2017 – not event the budget ones.

Flying is tricky and manoeuvres are even trickier with cornering being a particular issue. The flight is pretty stable when you are moving in one direction but if you get too much wind coming at your Millennium Falcon then you are in trouble – again, we doubt Mr Solo ever had this problem!

The quadcopter sports 4 ducted propellers which look really impressive and mean that they are pretty well protected from bumps – this is a good job as they are no replaceable so if you damaged your Falcon drone you are pretty much screwed in terms of repairs. This design does make the drone super safe though and Amazon say it is suitable for ages of 8 and upwards, whilst the manufacturer says 12+. In reality (and as always you are responsible for your child’s safety) a much younger child could fly this drone under close supervision as the controls themselves are pretty simple.

The Controller

The controller itself is solid, well built and it is easy to use. It has two control sticks, the left providing throttle and the right providing direction. The green central button is the starter button and the rest of the buttons provided lights and sound effects.

The controller actually produces the sound effects and they do not come from the drone itself. On the first couple of flights the sounds are impressive but they can become irritating over time, however we never tired of the hyperdrive light!

Battery Life

This is where the Air Hogs drone really lets itself down. We found battery life in terms of flying time to be around 5 minutes. It runs of 6 AA batteries and this is a serious flaw of this drone. As an adult 5 minutes of fun might be okay but kids might expect more and become disappointed with this.